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One of the more common terms that get bandied about the workplace is "comfort zone" - or more exactly, "so and so needs to get out of his/her 'comfort zone'," but what is this comfort zone and what is so unattractive about it?
For IT consultant Andrew Scott, if he had stayed in a comfort zone he would not have achieved the lifestyle he has now.
In 2000 Scott decided he had collected sufficient skills in his career to take the next leap - self employment.
Before that he was in full-time employment with a company and getting average remuneration and the normal leave restrictions. Now he is able to take breaks of three months or more to travel the world and come back to a new contract.
Scott says he can spot comfort-zone dwellers. "They're the ones who won't try new things."
He says in his experience, getting out of a comfort zone is not about taking a giant leap of faith.
"I recognised in the late 80s that the direction I was heading towards as a hardware engineer was not going to lead me forward. I needed to look at other things - that meant applications and networking," says Scott.
"When I sensed another dead end, I knew I had to become more business focussed and had to embrace a more sales-oriented role, which involved designing and selling systems - I didn't particularly see myself as a sales person at the time. But I knew it was a necessary skill to learn."
All these small moves helped Scott head for his goal.
"The more you challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone, the broader your skills become and the more able you are to take on new situations," says Scott. "You build the confidence that you can get there and you can choose the things you really like doing, and end up having fun at work - after all it is the part of your life that takes up the most of your time."
Managing director of Executive Coaching Centre Iain McCormick defines a comfort zone as a "space where people don't feel stretched - where they can handle their job easily".
He says that for most people professional development is an ingrained thing.
"For many people a sense of development and growing can be more important than money. When a person is in a comfort zone it usually means they don't want to develop," he says.
"That can be desirable in certain jobs, for example maybe office administration, where a person is expected to do the same thing day after day. But it is less desirable when a company has to keep up with a changing environment.
"For many businesses to keep going employees have to be growing and developing."
McCormick says this applies to any knowledge-based industry. "These businesses must have people who are committed to life-long learning. But of course there needs to be balance.
"Employees need a range of things, they need to understand what they want out of a job and what their job commands. If you can't continue learning, then there's just jobs you cannot do - law and accounting come to mind. For those who are sufficiently motivated, reading, going to short courses and training programmes help. For the big issues executive coaching is a good idea."
Life coach Kristin Liggins defines a comfort zone as: "A person's perceptions of what they are capable of. These are often negative and are not necessarily the truth."
The dangers of staying in your comfort zones are not reaching your potential and stagnating - which in the fast-moving world of today means going backwards, Liggins says.
She says in her experience, many people think they're not enjoying their work but don't know why. They think they have to make drastic changes to feel happier, when really, it's more about how they perceive their current reality.
For example, Liggins says, it may be uncomfortable for someone to stand up for herself at work, and so that person feels put upon and used. To change the situation, she doesn't necessarily need to change companies, she needs to be more assertive.
Liggins cautions that many people think being assertive means being aggressive, which can cause all sorts of other problems.
"Developing communication skills can be a way of stepping out of a comfort zone. Throughout your life, life experiences feed into you like computer data affecting what you believe about yourself and how you behave. If life experiences have shown that there will be bad outcomes from stepping out, then you become more fearful of that.
"What people say to you builds up - but what they say is usually not the truth and you're letting yourself be formed by outer-stimuli."
This belief in limitations makes you believe that you're not capable of much more than what you do, which makes you stuck.
David Doyle, principal, executive recruitment firm Chamberlin, Doyle and Associates says: "It's a negative signal if an employee won't leave a comfort zone. If a company needs change, an employee should not resist it, and sometimes you have to make some sacrifices."
He says that he doesn't think it is a problem for an organisation if an employee is in a comfort zone when there is no demand for change.
"If you're a sales manager who wants to be a sales director and you refuse to go to, say the Czech Republic where the company requires you to go, there's no way of succeeding in your goal," says Dorle. "Successful people say they will make it work."
He says it's not necessary to take silly or crazy risks.
"If a company asks you to do something, they will be tolerant of your not succeeding. If you stay stuck in a comfort zone, you cannot expect such tolerance of failure."
